The 6th of June, 1944 – that's when the tide of the Second World War swung wide in favor of the allied forces. On that day, American, British, Canadian and Australian troops forced their way into German-occupied territory. After they established a beachhead in Normandy, the Allies opened up a second major front against the Nazi armies, who were already having a hard time holding the Soviets in the East.
The Normandy campaign involved a total of 7,000 tanks, being the last major armored battle of the war. The M4 Sherman tank played a major role in liberating France after that, perhaps second only to the M1 Garand infantry rifle.
The Sherman was the primary battle tank of the US army. Despite being outgunned by its German rivals like the infamous Tiger, it proved to be a reliable workhorse and was produced in much larger numbers than any Panzer. It's thus only fitting that the M4 Sherman played a major role at the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, organized on a few days ago in Normandy. This video shows a rare glimpse of the US army vehicle roaring into life, its 16-liter engine billowing out clouds of smoke.
Powering the M4 is an engine known as the Wright R-975 Whirlwind. It's a 9-cylinder radial that was originally designed for use in aircraft. Continental Motors produced 53,000 such engines in many configurations, which powered a wide range of other armored vehicles into the 50s.
The Sherman's version made about 400 hp at 2,400 rpm and had to push along 66,800 pounds (30 tons) of cast iron and armaments, including the 75 mm main gun. A medium tank, the M4 was never designed to be a tank killer and was thus not equipped to take on the German Tiger tanks head-on. Its 75mm cannon had a short barrel and was designed for quick-loading infantry support action. To make things worse, American engineers wanted a lighter tank, so the thickness of the armor is half that of the tiger.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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